<div dir="ltr">Hi Patrick,<br><br>"<br><div style="font-size:12.8px">That being said, I would to hear more
during the discussion about the problems of 'compulsion' -- and what
term might work better but still acknowledge the social constructions of
immersion in human-computer exchange. "<br><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px">I think what is important is not to change the word "compulsion" (or "addiction" for that matter) with another word; but rather to alter the negative associations of the word, transforming them into positive ones. In other words, one may practice a double, an active embrace of the word, owning the word. Such a transformation occurred in the word "queer" for example. A word used derisively in the past became a militant mode of self-identification, rather than the more "polite," gentler, milder words, such as "homosexual" or "gay."<br><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px">In the Derrida passage you quoted, one can see that Derrida's language still retains the negative associations of the word: "<span style="font-size:12.8px">I am interested in a exorbitant form of desire, which Derrida links to the <u>perverse, unreasonable, and queer.</u>" Derrida may not have intended it this way consciously and may deny it; but here we are, trapped by language/syntax itself, its secret associations: perverse equals unreasonable equals queer...<br><br></span></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Martin Luther King said just before being killed that to be truly equal one must not eliminate the color black but transform the associations stuck to black in the west (the "white" world). That's the hardest fight of all.<br><br></span></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">What I am implying is that approaching "compulsion" as a total asset (not only an ironic one) one can arrive at interesting places. Didn't something like this happen to a degree around "boredom" a few months ago?<br><br></span></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Ciao,<br></span></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Murat<br></span></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Oct 3, 2015 at 6:15 PM, Patrick Keilty <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:p.keilty@utoronto.ca" target="_blank">p.keilty@utoronto.ca</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------<br><div dir="ltr">I just wanted to make a brief note about "compulsion" -- since I am sure many of you wonder why I have chosen that word over something less ideological. <span style="font-size:12.8px">I've chosen the word "compulsion" because I am interested in a exorbitant form of desire, which Derrida links to the perverse, unreasonable, and queer. I've read numerous historical and cultural critiques of "addiction" and "compulsion" (I've opted not to use "addiction" for a variety of reasons), but I want to move past simply exposing social constructs or a critique of the discourses of exorbitant desires. (Susan Zieger, Helen Keane, Brenda Cossman, Janice Irvine, Jeffrey Falla, and many other scholars have already mounted insightful and effective arguments in this regard). Instead, I'd like to take seriously a notion of exorbitant desire that is patient with its moods and temporalities, its pleasures as well as its negative affects (frustration, shame, for example), rather than moving too quickly to put them to good use, dwelling with compulsion, rather than transforming it into something acceptable, something normal. </span><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px">That being said, I would to hear more during the discussion about the problems of "compulsion" -- and what term might work better but still acknowledge the social constructions of immersion in human-computer exchange. </div><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><span></span><span></span>Patrick Keilty<div>Assistant Professor<br>Faculty of Information<br></div><div>Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies</div><div>University of Toronto</div><div><a href="http://www.patrickkeilty.com/" target="_blank">http://www.patrickkeilty.com/</a><br></div></div></div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Oct 3, 2015 at 6:10 PM, Patrick Keilty <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:p.keilty@utoronto.ca" target="_blank">p.keilty@utoronto.ca</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>Following up on my previous post, I am pleased to introduce Katie Shilton (US) and Henry Warwick (CA/US) as the guest discussants for our first week. </div><div><br></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">Katie Shilton is an assistant professor in the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research explores ethics and policy for the design of information collections, systems and technologies. Current research projects include an investigation of ethics in mobile application development; a project focused on the values and policy implications of Named Data Networking, a new approach to Internet architecture; surveys of consumer privacy expectations in the mobile data ecosystem; and investigating researchers’ ethical beliefs and practices when using online open data sets. Her work has been supported by a Google Faculty Award and several awards from the U.S. National Science Foundation, including an NSF CAREER award. Katie received a B.A. from Oberlin College, a Master of Library and Information Science from UCLA, and a Ph.D. in Information Studies from UCLA. </span><br></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">Henry Warwick is an artist, composer, writer, and assistant professor in the RTA School of Media at Ryerson University in Toronto, and research fellow at the Infoscape Lab at Ryerson. He has an MFA from Goddard College in Interdisciplinary Art, and a PhD in Communications from the European Graduate School. To keep himself sane, he composes electronic music and DJ’s an eclectic radio show.</span><span><font color="#888888"><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></font></span></div><span><font color="#888888"><div><br></div><br clear="all"><div><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><span></span><span></span>Patrick Keilty<div>Assistant Professor<br>Faculty of Information<br></div><div>Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies</div><div>University of Toronto</div><div><a href="http://www.patrickkeilty.com/" target="_blank">http://www.patrickkeilty.com/</a><br></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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